Ceres, and the Ceres Series

The Dawn spacecraft is en route to the "dwarf planet" Ceres, with arrival in 2015. Ceres is a really interesting target, and we're going to learn a ton. It's of particular personal interest since I've been studying and writing about it a lot, especially in the last few years.

As part of the lead-up to Dawn's arrival, their EPO (education and public outreach) team has been organizing a set of Google Hangouts with scientists to share their impressions and expectations of Ceres. I'll be joining them for the hangout on 5 September, at 1 PM EDT, it should also be available in their archives. The event page (should be found) at  http://plus.google.com/events/cstdr6jkeceic04mkfomdbr3s8k

And, naturally, I've been working on a song about Ceres for a while. Unlike my song for Vesta, the previous target for Dawn, this one is more like a rock opera.  However, since there aren't individual parts to be sung I've been calling it a "rock narrative". The song is written, but I've only recorded the first part, which I present here in demo form:

Ceres Ferdinandea I: The Monk and the Prodigy

While I'm at it, I'll also link to the collected astronomy/geeky music I've made through the years.

I plan (hope?) to finish the entire Ceres recording in plenty of time for Dawn's arrival!

Astropoetry: A bit of waving at Saturn (and Mercury)

I have a million things to do, but those can apparently wait a bit longer.  Inspired by Amee Hennig (aka Astropoet Amee), who's been collecting and posting contributed poems for today's "Wave at Saturn" event, I figured I'd collect some of the relevant poems I've written for National Poetry Writing Month in the past few years about the Saturn system, and a bonus one of Mercury for the concomitant "Wave at Mercury" event!

"In a field by Hook Mountain" (Saturn)
"You Exhale Ice" (Enceladus)
"Horseshoes but No Hand Grenades" (Janus/Epimetheus)
"Am I Not a Planet?" (Titan)
"Two Faced Orb" (Iapetus)

"An Alchemical Dream" (Mercury)

Video: We Didn't Start The Science

I do a lot on Twitter.  I'm probably use it more than any other social media site.  My handle is @ asrivkin, though you're much more likely to find this blog via Twitter than find me on Twitter via this blog. 

Anyhow, as I was approaching my 10,000th tweet I thought I'd do something fun. My 5,000th tweet found me at a famous landmark, but timing wasn't working out to do something similar for 10,000. So instead you get a video!  I did the "special effects" with Photo Booth-- it would likely have come out better if I'd allocated more time to the process and some effort into getting some better lighting, but perhaps it fits the DIY nature of things better this way.




"We Didn't Start The Science" appears a few times on this blog and elsewhere.  I of course didn't write the music. Because it's a cover it's not eligible to be on my Bandcamp site, but that doesn't mean I won't point to it and recent releases there anyway. :)

Live at AGU!

Howdy from groovy, rocking San Francisco. I'm here for the American Geophysical Union Fall meeting, one of the major annual gatherings of planetary scientists (along with, in this case. oceanographers, atmospheric scientists, geodesy people, geophysicists, and all the other disciplines that comprise earth science).  It's a giant meeting, with something like 20-30,000 attendees.

This year for the first time, they held an Open Mic Night. We had a great turnout both from performers and the audience perspective.  Naturally, I couldn't resist signing up.  I managed to whip through two songs in my 5 minutes: OBAFGKM and the Planetary Blues (which was a slight reworking of the LPSC Blues, which itself was a reworking of the LPL Blues).

The crowd, who were mostly geologists, didn't get the whole Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me (Right Now Smack) reference, though they were appreciative.  All in all, it was a very fun night, which led into the rest of a fun evening with old friends. I'd particularly like to thank Luke and Barbara for showing up!

They were sporadically videotaping the event. I have no idea if I was recorded for the official video.  I did get a recording of myself using my phone. The sound is heavily dominated by my guitar (the wonderful Washburn Rover), and my voice is a bit buried, but that may be for the best.  And, after all, that's what this blog is for.

So with no further ado, here's my two song set at the AGU Open Mic Night!

(And with only additional ado, here's my link to the blog post on space songs I've done, including OBAFGKM yet again: link) 

Solar System Poems 30: Consider A Face

The gods and demi-gods of yore now circle up above,

decamping Olympus or Valhalla for inky space.

So when we hear their name and consider a face

it is crater-scarred and battered; science is what we think of

and we imagine touching them only with protective gloves.

Ceres, Oberon, Callisto now evoke a place

not a personality now gone that cannot be replaced

not a personality now gone that we have known and loved.

The gods and demi-gods of today, though numbered higher,

have given objects the honor of their name.

And thinking of them, as we often do

evokes not a rock devoid of living fire

but a loving, caring human worth their fame

like we will always remember Betty and Sue.

Solar System Poems 29: Earth's Soul Mate

I think we may have gone all the way

too quickly 

for the good of the relationship.

Years of schoolkid crushes

fantasies about "the first time"

turned to lust and competition

when someone else made eyes at you.

We checked you out

and made promises

to ourselves? To you? 

After a thrilling conquest

and few long weekends together

we got distracted. 

We told you we'd call

but month after month after month

we didn't.

We thought you'd "just" be the first

but you're still the only.

Once again others are making eyes,

talking about moving in

and giving you the 

long-term relationship

we apparently couldn't.

Our response is a shrug,

paying you attention on the cheap

and hoping the ebb and flow 

of it all covers the fact

that many folks see red

and would rather find a new conquest

or die trying

than return to your touch.

No way to treat Earth's soul mate.

Solar System Poems 28: Siren With A Lined Face

Siren with a lined face 

but gem of the system.

Her warm heart covered

by an icy shell

some would pierce for science.

Pushed by her neighbors

she flexes and shudders

to stay in shape, but some say

she still smokes

where nobody can see her.

Surveys say we should return,

flagship or armada,

but warring factions 

have the upper hand. 

We will attempt no landing there

with money caught

in a different web.

Put her image 

as your laptop background

but that's not quite the same-

it isn't, is it, my old friend?

Solar System Poems 27: Transient Joys Beyond Heaven's Gate

None who saw you will forget you,

a hairy, multi-tailed wonder 

stalking the skies 

as the century

wound down.

Your Japanese opening act

warmed us up well,

I couldn't imagine

how you'd top it,

but you did.

In the vivid sodium light

I see you still.

From the east end of

Speedway

to the desert

below Gates Pass,

in the red Celestron

I got for my bar mitzvah,

you pinwheeled across the sky.

I can still call up 

your memory,

you hanging over 

the Catalinas

in difficult times,

reminding me there is

a universe out there

beyond heaven's gate,

and transient joys

are no less joyful.

Solar System Poems 26: A Topic in Forums

Subject of discussion

in the old-school forums,

your namesake inspired chastity 

in the service of study

until the flames burned down.

Now you shine by 

the light of the Sun,

brighter than your comrades,

bright enough to be seen

by naked eye

had the virgins known where to look

And you still give a bounty

to planetary scientists:

Elements and spectra,

gravity and topography,

craters and mounds and cracks 

from the littlest planet.

Olbers would be proud

if knew where to look

to find him today.

Billions of years after

your own flames burned down,

you inspire discussion

in latter-day forums

with the light of a new dawn,

though I will not speculate on 

the chastity of those taking part.

Solar System Poems 25: Bask In Light Of Jove

Spat on by neighbors,

by gossamer ring you fly.

Barnard's other star.

Red, green, and icy,

formation a mystery.

Made here or moved in?

Mother closely held,

Red spot big as twenty moons.

Bask in light of Jove.

Solar System Poems 24: How Do You Plead?

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,

despite news to the 

contrary 

and even a 

claim 

of responsibility by a 

"killer"

it is not clear that a 

crime

was even 

committed.

And if there were one, 

my client remains innocent. 

What is she accused of,

having an alias?

It was used without her permission.

You'd take one too if your name

were so closely associated with

chaos.

Being ambitious?

Indeed not. The media projected

ambition onto her.

If anything, my client was being stalked.

She bears a more than

superficial resemblance 

to the alleged victim.

Similar size,

similar airs,

similar background.

It would be more productive

for you to interrogate

the Easter Bunny.

Solar System Poems 23: You Exhale Ice

Though fiery on Earth

there you exhale ice,

the taste of comets still on your breath

from your youngest days.

Gashed by tiger claws,

your wounds still throb

with heat,

belying your white stare

more pale than snow.

The groans of your wild unrest,

cannot be heard, 

But standing in the right place,

we may yet see a rainbow.

Solar System Poems 22: Remaking Itself in Slow Motion

Captured from the deep 

by the god of the seas,

the battle was short but bloodless.

Nevertheless Neptune's retinue was 

doomed by this new arrival,

who may have given its freedom

so that others may escape.

Cousin to Pluto,

cold enough to freeze air.

There are still clouds and hazes,

with geysers spewing tarry dust

onto plains of ammonia and ice.

A world remaking itself in slow motion,

under the watchful eye of the god of the seas

who relentlessly pulls it

ever closer.

Solar System Poems 21: Luna's Little Buddy

It might fit in your room

without any trouble

and we wouldn't need Hubble

to continue its study.

It was our other moon

Luna's little buddy

for some time the past decade.

First thought to be manmade

it now seems to be rocky.

No more over Miami

or even Milwaukee

this Romeo's wandered

leaving much to be pondered

until it returns

as it will, we assume.

Solar System Poems 20: Horseshoes But No Hand Grenades

They race around the rings

evenly matched

a thirty second lead after 

twenty-two thousand marathons.

But even when running forever

thirty seconds can add up.

Orbit after orbit they race,

the inner moon slowly pulling away

then pulling closer to lap.

Horseshoes but no hand grenades,

the God of Transitions is called forth.

With seemingly no afterthought

the smaller moon gives way,

Inner moves to outer

and drops back.

The dance renewed

and the race goes on.

Solar System Poems 19: No, Dr. Cheng

Yes, it is an amazing object:

the first asteroid to be 

truly explored,

orbited and landed on,

The spacecraft did go

"all the way"

in that sense.

We expected craters,

but not the amount of soil,

nor the evidence of its motion;

the fine-grained ponds where

boulders get comfortable

and take off their outer layers

before our eyes.

And yes, you could

call the results "sexy",

and I agree it's an

amazing body,

the apple of our eyes,

and it turned people on

to how interesting 

asteroids can be.

But no, Dr. Cheng,

we will not be cataloguing your work

with the erotic literature.

Solar System Poems 18: The Inuit and the astronomers

The Inuit know Sedna lives 

in the icy deep,

flung to the bottom of the Arctic,

but there are many differing stories 

about how she got there.

So it is with her namesake,

who has gathered a pod of worshipers

hoping she grants good luck in their hunts.

In the slow, deep time of space,

where the Sun has little interest 

she circles, considering,

redder than blood, colder than ice.

The astronomers know Sedna orbits

at the outer reaches of the solar system,

retreating over 900 AU from the Sun,

but there are many differing theories

about how it got there.

Solar System Poems 17: The Keyhole Is Open

Born of violence, 

bigger than the pyramids.

It would not swallow the sun

but if allowed would part the seas

for a moment

before killing the first born 

and later born

as a set.

The heavens align. 

The door is closed 

but the keyhole is open.

It lost at roulette

but it holds a lottery ticket.

If it slithers through

we must take to the 

tenth region of the night,

call upon our wizards

and mimic the sun.

Solar System Poems 16: A Return to this Sprite

Found by Lassell in the British heavens,

the marmalade sky yielding icy gems.

Far from being at sixes and sevens,

a tidy four were spotted by his lens.

When Voyager arrived twelve decades later

it found our subject cut by valles and troughs.

The general lack of very large craters

suggests resurfacing (perhaps died off).

A return to this sprite remains uncertain

though none can arrive until decades hence.

Still, some look to reraise the curtain

and look to an encore with much suspense.

And when again a probe we dispatch

the science will be her own ex'llent match

Solar System Poems 15: Locked In Your Embrace

Even here in deepest night

we have each other.

Our path isn't like

what the others take.

They have been frustrating years,

learning that your 

expected promotion

turned into my demotion,

only learning hours after the others.

Still, that ship has sailed and 

new horizons await.

and even here in deepest night,

even as I may be losing my air,

even if I am forgotten in the future,

I am locked in your embrace, content 

with a face that sees only you.